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NAFTA not in our interests

Mon., May 30, 2016

Re: Inside Mexico's ghost unions, May 22

Inside Mexico's ghost unions, May 22

The rampant Mexican practice of resorting to “ghost unions” not only has a devastating impact on hapless Mexican workers but also is patently unfair to Canadian workers. Canada cannot compete fairly while the Mexican government is rigging the system.

The odious custom of protective contracts, which is encouraged by the Mexican government by colluding with employers and unions, is a highly concerning for Canadians. This serious issue needs to be promptly and forcefully addressed by our federal government.

It is time for Canada to step in and impose stiff sanctions on Mexico in view of the host of Mexican labour violations perpetrated under NAFTA, which negatively impact on Canadian jobs and our economy. We cannot stand passively on the sidelines any longer.

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Rudy Fernandes, Mississauga

The sad state of unionized labour in Mexico should not be a surprise. When NAFTA was signed, the labour and environmental safeguards were put into side agreements. Much was made of these labour and environmental safeguards, but they were always pretty much useless.

The labour side agreement contains 11 worker rights commitments, but only three of them (minimum wage, child labour and occupational health and safety) are enforceable by sanctions. The right of workers to organize, to go on strike and to bargain collectively are unenforceable.

This was not a mistake. The only provisions of NAFTA that really have teeth are the investor rights ones that allow large multinational corporations to sue NAFTA member nations for compensation in the event their reasonable expectation of profits is disappointed.

As with all of our so-called free trade agreements, profits come before people.

Paul Bigioni, Pickering

How can Canada compete with two countries that suppress labour rights so thoroughly? The U.S., with their union suppressing Right to Work (for peanuts) Act, and Mexico where union leaders are eliminated all together.

This NAFTA deal is more a free market for employers to abuse employees, and has very little real benefit for our economy unless we treat our employees as callously as the rest.

NAFTA is just a means the 1 per cent has set up to turn Canada into a Third World labour market.

Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough

To Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade:

By luck I happened to have the chance to listen to your remarks to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce event in Ottawa last week.

I was very interested to hear about the government’s plans for “progressive” trade deals that actually help the Canadian middle class and I was fascinated by the fact that you meet with high ranking Mexican officials on a weekly basis.

In the opinion of many, NAFTA has been a progressively growing disaster for the Canadian middle class. Our soaring trade deficit with Mexico is the cold, hard and indisputable evidence of the real world NAFTA effect that has wiped out so much of our industrial core and stunted so much of our national economic potential.

To be fair, the term “trade deficit” has slipped from fashionable discourse but that sucking sound I hear emanating from Ontario’s free trade generated rust belt never lets me forget it.

It is my personal view that the best word to describe the opposite of free trade is not ‘protectionism’ as I far prefer the old fashioned term ‘patriotism’.

Finally, the day I see 100,000 or even 50,000 people on the street anywhere on this planet demonstrating in favour of the latest, greatest free trade deal I will start believing that free trade policy really is meant to help people not just transnational corporations and their privileged beneficiaries.

Mike Vorobej, Ottawa

Here we are 20 some years later and finally we are seeing the reality of the NAFTA deal. Phony unions, garbage pay, bad environment and virtually every big name company with plants there. And virtually every politician but Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders saying what a great deal it is. This is partly why Trump and Saunders are doing so well. People now know this deal stinks and is responsible for the loss of manufacturing sector jobs in both the U.S. and Canada.

I hope every believer in free trade reads this excellent article. It exposes the horrible reality of NAFTA. Of course, NAFTA was just the start. If the TPP comes in, we will literally be work slaves to these corporations.

While I appreciate the Star exposing this, you have wonder why no other major media outlet has really had anything to say about this side of the NAFTA deal?

While many wring their hands over what is happening at the ballot box in many countries, its these kind of trade deals that have resulted in people like Trump being in a position to win.

Greece has seen a rise in a Nazi-style party called the Red Dawn. France has the National Front, headed by the daughter of a far right racist rabble rouser. Germany has the National Democratic Party. Austria is about to vote in a far right leader from the Freedom Party. Note how all these right wing parties always try to use the word democratic or freedom to lull opponents into thinking they are a centre styled party.

Now the big question remains: Can we as a society stop the 1 per cent from gaining complete control of our society.

Gary Brigden, Toronto

Good work, attempting to distract readers from the poverty here in Canada with this headline, the same poverty that has also risen due to corporate greed post-NAFTA. TPP or any of the other trading bloc creations/agreements won’t make things any better. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet, and what we should be looking for is to tear them all down and to let the global economy reset itself organically.

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